Hundreds of Israeli settlers, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, stormed Joseph’s Tomb in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday.
Under heavy military guard, Smotrich and the settlers entered the site in the early hours after Israeli troops raided parts of the city and sealed checkpoints to secure the visit.
The far-right minister vowed to make the Israeli presence at the site permanent, despite it being located in the heart of a Palestinian city administered by the Palestinian Authority (PA).
“Our presence here at Joseph’s Tomb, in broad daylight, is a clear statement: the people of Israel are returning home to all parts of their land,” Smotrich said during the visit, which included morning prayers.
“Joseph’s Tomb is living testimony to the inseparable connection between the people of Israel and their land,” he added, pledging to transfer control of the complex to the Israeli government.
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“This prayer is another step in a historic correction and in strengthening our hold on Samaria,” Smotrich said, using the Israeli term for the northern West Bank.
“We are acting, and will continue to act, so that the Jewish presence here becomes permanent,” said Smotrich, who is also the minister in the defence ministry responsible for the civil administration in the West Bank.
Later, Smotrich called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz to deepen Israeli control over the site.
‘We are acting, and will continue to act, so that the Jewish presence here becomes permanent’
– Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli finance minister
“This is the most fitting Zionist response to our enemies – deepening our roots in our land,” he said.
According to Israel’s Arutz Sheva, around 5,000 Israelis entered the tomb complex overnight.
The incursion comes amid accelerating de facto annexation measures across the West Bank led by Smotrich since he took office in December 2022.
The minister has overseen one of the largest Israeli land grabs in the territory in recent years, alongside expanded incursions into religious and heritage sites, including the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron and Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Wednesday that throughout 2024 and 2025, Smotrich focused largely on settlement affairs in the West Bank while neglecting key duties as finance minister.
According to the report, Smotrich held more than 65 meetings over the past two years with his close ally Yehuda Eliyahu, who until recently headed the Settlement Administration within the defence ministry.
Last week, Eliyahu was appointed head of the Israel Land Authority, the government body responsible for managing and allocating state land in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
Haaretz said Smotrich met senior finance ministry officials only around 30 times during the same period.
Re-occupation of the site
Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus – which Palestinians believe is the burial site of Sheikh Yusuf Dweikat, a local cleric from nearby Balata – has long been a target for settler incursions.
Many Israelis believe the shrine contains the tomb of the Prophet Joseph, revered in both Judaism and Islam.
Military-guarded settler raids to the site since the early 1980s have repeatedly sparked resistance from Palestinians. In 2000, the Israeli army withdrew from its permanent post at the tomb, but continued organising monthly settler raids.
Since October 2023, settler incursions have become larger and more frequent, often involving far-right figures calling for the re-establishment of a permanent Jewish presence at the site.
Israeli raids stoke renewed takeover fears at West Bank’s Joseph’s Tomb
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Tzvi Sukkot, an MP from Smotrich’s Religious Zionist party, also entered the compound on Wednesday morning and urged the government to take full control of the tomb.
“From here, we send one demand: restore the Jewish presence,” said Sukkot, who chairs the Knesset’s Education, Culture and Sports Committee.
Sukkot has long advocated annexing the site. In July 2025, he introduced legislation to place Joseph’s Tomb under Israeli sovereignty, though the proposal has not advanced.
Wednesday’s early morning prayers followed a decision by Defence Minister Israel Katz last December authorising Jewish worshippers to pray at the site during early hours.
In January, Sukkot and other settlers also held prayers at the tomb, describing the visit as “historic”.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council, called Wednesday’s incursion “a historic morning marking another step toward the full return of the State of Israel to this sacred compound”.
“The current situation cannot continue,” he said.
“The goal is clear: the full and permanent return of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva to its natural place, and for the Israeli flag to fly over Joseph’s Tomb.”
The yeshiva, established at the site in the 1980s, was later evacuated in the early 2000s.
Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, head of the yeshiva, said he hoped to “return and establish a permanent presence at Joseph’s Tomb”, urging supporters not to “forsake the city of the covenant”.
